Green-fingered couple reopen their award-winning garden to the public after two-year hiatus

A couple who have more than 3,000 different trees, shrubs and plants in their award-winning garden are re-opening it to the public after a two-year break.

Tony and Marie Newton, who are both retired, started working on the Four Seasons Garden in 1982.

The green-fingered couple, from Walsall, have won national awards for their garden.

It was featured in a half-hour special on Gardeners' World in 2008, and has received praise from presenter Alan Titchmarsh.

The couple said they have kept count of the number of plants, often going round the garden with clipboards, and have 120 Japanese Maple trees in their arrangement.

They view their garden as a work of art rather than just gardening.

Mr Newton said: "It is a form of art and that's what we're doing, you look at each plant and you're working out, it's like painting a big picture.

"Marie often says it's like creating a giant flower arrangement because a flower arrangement isn't just about the flowers, it's about the foliage."

They have been overwhelmed by the attention they garden has received.

"It was only a few years ago when a press photographer sent one of our pictures off and we were in five nationals in one day," Mr Newton said.

"Suddenly our autumn garden was discovered and it had [previously] just been our own."

Their open days have drawn in 13,514 visitors from 36 different countries, and has raised more than £43,000 for charity.